A revised syllabus for the GCE ‘Ordinary’ Level music subject was unveiled by the Education Minister, Mr Ong Ye Kung in his address at the Lion City Youth Jazz Festival at the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre on Saturday, 18 May. 

It was announced that the study of jazz, popular music, and music in multimedia will be part of the new syllabus for the ‘O’ Level music subject. The new syllabus will be examinable in 2020, and is offered to students studying in the four-year Music Elective Programme, two-year Enhanced Music Programme and the two-year O-level Music Course at the upper secondary levels.

In his address, Mr Ong said that students will get to appreciate all the sub-genres within jazz with the addition of the genre on top of the existing studies on Asian and Western classical music.

"They get to learn about the music and the musicians, such as Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck and Jeremy Monteiro,” he added. 

The Ministry said the changes will "better cater to students' diverse musical interests and backgrounds”, and that they will also be “able to draw more connections and links from a richer spread of musical contexts through listening, creating and performing.”